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La Liga title for Real Madrid, Champions League for Girona as Barca lose

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 09:34
Girona scored a stunning 4-2 win over their Catalan rivals Barcelona to hand a 36th Spanish league title to Real Madrid.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 801

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:41
As the war enters its 801th day, these are the main developments.

The surfer chef behind South Africa’s first fine dining halal restaurant

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:37
Anwar Abdullatief creates stunning halal food with the Cape Malay flavours of his childhood

Messi and Saurez lead Inter Miami’s 6-2 MLS win over New York Red Bulls

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:33
Messi had a record five assists and scored a goal, while Suarez scored a hat-trick in the win over New York Red Bulls.

Dozens arrested in US campuses in another weekend of pro-Palestine protests

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:19
More than 2,000 people have been arrested nationwide as students continue protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

More money going to African climate startups, but huge funding gap remains

Technology - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:00
NAIROBI, Kenya — When Ademola Adesina founded a startup to provide solar and battery-based power subscription packages to individuals and businesses in Nigeria in 2015, it was a lot harder to raise money than it is today. Climate tech was new in Africa, the continent was a fledgling destination for venture capital money, there were fewer funders to approach and less money was available, he said. It took him a year of "running around and scouring" his networks to raise his first amount — just under $1 million — from VC firms and other sources. "Everything was a learning experience," he said. But the ecosystem has since changed, and Adesina's Rensource Energy has raised about $30 million over the years, mostly from VC firms.  Funding for climate tech startups in Africa from the private sector is growing, with businesses raising more than $3.4 billion since 2019. But there's still a long way to go, with the continent requiring $277 billion annually to meet its climate goals for 2030. Experts say to unlock financing and fill this gap, African countries need to address risks like currency instability that they say reduce investor appetite, while investors need to expand their scope of interest to more climate sectors like flood protection, disaster management and heat management, and to use diverse funding methods. Still, the investment numbers for the climate tech sector — which includes businesses in renewable energy, carbon removal, land restoration and water and waste management — are compelling: Last year, climate tech startups on the continent raised $1.04 billion, a 9% increase from the previous year and triple what they raised in 2019, according to the funding database Africa: The Big Deal. That was despite a decline in the amount of money raised by all startups in total on the continent last year. That matters because climate tech requires experimentation, and VC firms that provide money to nascent businesses are playing an essential role by giving climate tech startups risk capital, said Adesina. "In the climate space, a lot of things are uncertain," he said. The money raised by climate tech startups last year was more than a third of all funds raised by startups in Africa in 2023, placing climate tech second to fintech, a more mature sector. Venture capital is typically given to businesses with substantial risk but great long-term growth potential. Startups use it to expand into new markets and to get products and services on the market. Venture capitalists "can take risks that other people cannot take, because our business model is designed to have failures," said Brian Odhiambo, a Lagos-based partner at Novastar Ventures, an Africa-focused investor. "Not everything has to succeed. But some will, and those that do will succeed in a massive way." That was the case for Adetayo Bamiduro, co-founder of MAX, formerly Metro Africa Xpress, which makes electric two- and three-wheelers and electric vehicle infrastructure in Nigeria and has raised just under $100 million since it was founded in 2015. Adetayo said venture capitalists "are playing a catalytic role that is extremely essential." "We all know that in order to really decarbonize our economies, investments have to be made. And it's not trivial investment," he said. The funds can also bridge the gap between traditional and non-traditional sectors, said Kidus Asfaw, co-founder and CEO of Kubik, a startup that turns difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into durable, low-carbon building material. His company, which operates in Kenya and Ethiopia, has raised around $5.2 million since it was launched in 2021. He cites waste management and construction as examples of traditional sectors that can connect with startups like his. "There's so much innovation in these spaces that can transform them over time," he said. "VCs are accelerating that pathway to transforming them." Besides venture capital, other investments by private equity firms, syndicates, venture builders, grant providers and other financial institutions are actively financing climate initiatives on the continent. But private sector financing in general lags far behind that of public financing, which includes funds from governments, multilaterals and development finance institutions. From 2019 to 2020, private sector financing represented only 14% of all of Africa's climate finance, according to a report by the Climate Policy Initiative, much lower than in regions such as East Asia and Pacific at 39%, and Latin America and the Caribbean at 49%. The low contribution in Africa is attributed to the investors putting money in areas they're more familiar with, like renewable energy technology, with less funding coming in for more diverse initiatives, said Sandy Okoth, a capital market specialist for green finance at FSD Africa, one of the commissioners of the CPI study. "The private sector feels this (renewable energy technology) is a more mature space," he said. "They understand the funding models." Technology for adapting to climate change, on the other hand, is "more complex," he said. One startup working in renewable energy is the Johannesburg-based Wetility, which last year secured funding of $48 million — mostly from private equity — to expand its operations. The startup provides solar panels for homes and businesses and a digital management system that allows users to remotely manage power usage, as it tries to solve the problems of energy access and reliability in southern Africa. "Private sector financing in African climate is still rather low," said founder and CEO Vincent Maposa. "But there's visible growth. And I believe that over the next decade or so, you'll start to see those shifts." Investors are also starting to understand the economic benefits of adapting to climate change and solutions as they have returns on investment, said Hetal Patel, Nairobi-based director of investments at Mercy Corps Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on startups building solutions for climate adaptation and financial resilience. "We're starting to build a very strong business case for adaptation investors and make sure that private capital flows start coming in," he said. Maelis Carraro, managing partner at Catalyst Fund, a Nairobi-based VC fund and accelerator that funds climate adaptation solutions, urged more diverse funding, such as that which blends private and public sector funding. The role of public financing, she said, should be to de-risk the private sector and attract more private sector capital into financing climate initiatives. "We're not gonna go far enough with just the public funding," she said. "We need the private sector and the public sector to work together to unlock more financing. And in particular looking beyond just a few industries where the innovation is writ large."

US Air Force leader takes AI-controlled fighter jet ride in test vs human pilot

Technology - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 08:00
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of them operating by 2028. It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of shielding against surveillance, a new test-pilot generation is training AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to see AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat. "It's a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it," Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP and NBC were granted permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it was complete because of operational security concerns. The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 800 kph that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 305 meters of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions. At the end of the hour-long flight, Kendall said he'd seen enough to trust this still-learning AI to decide whether to launch weapons in war. There's a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI one day might be able to autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use. "There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life-and-death decisions to sensors and software," the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned. Autonomous weapons "are an immediate cause of concern and demand an urgent, international political response." Kendall said there will always be human oversight in the system when weapons are used. The military's shift to AI-enabled planes is driven by security, cost and strategic capability. If the U.S. and China should end up in conflict, for example, today's Air Force fleet of expensive, manned fighters will be vulnerable because of gains on both sides in electronic warfare, space and air defense systems. China's air force is on pace to outnumber the U.S. and it is also amassing a fleet of flying unmanned weapons. Future war scenarios envision swarms of American unmanned aircraft providing an advance attack on enemy defenses to give the U.S. the ability to penetrate an airspace without high risk to pilot lives. But the shift is also driven by money. The Air Force is still hampered by production delays and cost overruns in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will cost an estimated of $1.7 trillion. Smaller and cheaper AI-controlled unmanned jets are the way ahead, Kendall said. Vista's military operators say no other country in the world has an AI jet like it, where the software first learns on millions of data points in a simulator, then tests its conclusions during actual flights. That real-world performance data is then put back into the simulator where the AI then processes it to learn more. China has AI, but there's no indication it has found a way to run tests outside a simulator. And, like a junior officer first learning tactics, some lessons can only be learned in the air, Vista's test pilots said. Vista flew its first AI-controlled dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar flights since. But the programs are learning so quickly from each engagement that some AI versions being tested on Vista are beating human pilots in air-to-air combat. The pilots at this base are aware that in some respects, they may be training their replacements or shaping a future construct where fewer of them are needed. But they also say they would not want to be up in the sky against an adversary that has AI-controlled aircraft if the U.S. does not also have its own fleet. "We have to keep running. And we have to run fast," Kendall said.

Alvarez vs Munguia: Canelo retains boxing titles with unanimous victory

Around The Globe - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 06:46
Mexico's Alvarez successfully defended his WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA super middleweight titles against compatriot Munguia.

I Kissed A Girl: Gay dating show cast on love and friendship

Education - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 02:18
I Kissed A Girl contestants talk about appearing on the UK's first lesbian dating show.

AI scams could become 'growth industry of all time,' warns Buffett

Technology - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 01:37
omaha, nebraska — Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become "the growth industry of all time."  Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that Buffett himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.  The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology and may do more harm with it than good.  "It has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm and I just don't know how that plays out," he said.  Earnings  The day started early Saturday with Berkshire Hathaway announcing a steep drop in earnings as the paper value of its investments plummeted and it pared its Apple holdings. The company reported a $12.7 billion profit, or $8.825 per Class A share, in first the quarter, down 64% from $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per A share a year ago.  But Buffett encourages investors to pay more attention to the conglomerate's operating earnings from the companies it owns. Those jumped 39% to $11.222 billion, or $7,796.47 per Class A share, led by insurance companies' performance.  None of that got in the way of the fun.  Throngs flooded the arena to buy up Squishmallow plush toys of Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died last fall. The event attracts investors from around the world and is unlike any other company meeting.  "This is one of the best events in the world to learn about investing. To learn from the gods of the industry," said Akshay Bhansali, who spent the better part of two days traveling from India to Omaha.  A notable absence  Devotees come for tidbits of wisdom from Buffett, who famously dubbed the meeting Woodstock for Capitalists.  This was the first meeting since Munger died.  The meeting opened with a video tribute highlighting some of his best-known quotes, including classics like "If people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich." The video also featured skits the investors made with Hollywood stars over the years, including a "Desperate Housewives" spoof where one of the women introduced Munger as her boyfriend and another in which actress Jaimie Lee Curtis swooned over him.  As the video ended, the arena erupted in a prolonged standing ovation honoring Munger, whom Buffett called "the architect of Berkshire Hathaway."  Buffett said Munger remained curious about the world up until the end of his life at 99, hosting dinner parties, meeting with people and holding regular Zoom calls.  For decades, Munger and Buffett functioned as a classic comedy duo, with Buffett offering lengthy setups to Munger's witty one-liners.  Together, the pair transformed Berkshire from a floundering textile mill into a massive conglomerate made up of a variety of interests, from insurance companies such as Geico to BNSF railroad to several major utilities and an assortment of other companies.  Next Gen leaders  Munger's absence, however, created space for shareholders to get to know better the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire's companies: Ajit Jain, who manages the insurance units; and Abel, who handles everything else and has been named Buffett's successor. The two shared the main stage with Buffett this year.  The first time Buffett kicked a question to Greg Abel, he mistakenly said "Charlie?" Abel shrugged off the mistake and dove into the challenges utilities face from the increased risk of wildfires and some regulators' reluctance to let them collect a reasonable profit.  Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren said he believes Abel spoke up more Saturday and let shareholders see some of the brilliance Berkshire executives talk about.  A look to the future  Buffett has made clear that Abel will be Berkshire's next CEO, but said Saturday that he had changed his opinion on how the company's investment portfolio should be handled. He had previously said it would fall to two investment managers who handle small chunks of the portfolio now. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel for the gig, as well as overseeing the operating businesses and any acquisitions.  "He understands businesses extremely well, and if you understand businesses, you understand common stocks," Buffett said. Ultimately, it will be up to the board to decide, but the billionaire said he might come back and haunt them if they try to do it differently.  Nevertheless, the best applause line of the day was Buffett's closing remark: "I not only hope that you come next year but I hope that I come next year." 

Inside a 'peaceful and proud' Gaza protest camp at a UK university

Education - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 00:47
Students tell the BBC why they're occupying their campus in protest against the war in Gaza.

Inside a 'peaceful and proud' Gaza protest camp at a UK university

Education - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 00:47
Students tell the BBC why they're occupying their campus in protest against the war in Gaza.

Inside a 'peaceful and proud' Gaza protest camp at a UK university

Education - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 00:47
Students tell the BBC why they're occupying their campus in protest against the war in Gaza.

'Student arrests will be my final college memory'

Education - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 00:44
As graduations begin, three students reflect on a college experience bookended by Covid and now campus protests.

How effective is Turkey’s ban on trade with Israel?

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 20:48
Turkey says the ban will stay in place until Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Spain and Argentina trade jibes in row before visit by President Milei

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 20:17
The spat began when Spain's transport minister said Argentina's Javier Milei took drugs during last year's election.

‘No to the Russian law!’ Georgia protesters demand a ‘European future’

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 19:28
Violence has rocked Tbilisi as angry citizens fear Georgia will fall into ‘enemy hands’.

Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sitta says he was denied entry to France

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 18:59
The surgeon who helped treat patients during Israel's war on Gaza was scheduled to speak at the French Senate.

Germany’s Scholz calls for unity against far-right after MEP seriously hurt

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 18:34
Chancellor's appeal comes after four assailants brutally attacked a politician who was campaigning in eastern Germany.

‘Progress’ in Gaza truce talks but Israel still set on Rafah ground attack

Around The Globe - Sat, 05/04/2024 - 17:20
Sources tell Al Jazeera that talks are at critical point as a technical team is working out details of a potential deal.

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